(SAN ANTONIO, Texas) – The San Antonio branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) urged citizens to vote for a third-party presidential candidate at a community discussion on Oct. 11 to build upon the pro-Palestine movement in San Antonio.

Approximately 30 college students, elders, and parents with young children filed into the San Antonio Liberation Center, where three folding tables sat in the center of the room, and a 9-year-old cheerfully handed out PSL flyers to all who attended. The walls were lined with posters depicting slogans for Palestinian, LGBTQ, and women’s liberation.

Mallika Kodati, a 23-year-old University of North Texas student, led the opening statements by noting how politics have sifted since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel. 

During the attack, 1,200 people were killed, and 250 hostages were taken into Gaza. The event prompted an Israeli military offensive against the group, which has ultimately killed “more than 41,500 people,” according to Reuters. 

“It’s a shame that the U.S. continues to fund the genocide and occupation despite the massive outrage and the massive public movement for Palestine,” Kodati said. “But we can’t let this demoralize us. We can’t let ourselves slip into inactivity, right? Because this is just the beginning of a longer struggle.” 

The crowd nodded their heads in agreement.

A crowd at PSL community discussion hosted by PSL in San Antonio, Texas, on Oct. 11, 2024. [Credit: Melanie Love Salazar]

Kodati cited examples of years-long movements, such as the anti-war movement in Vietnam and resistance against Jim Crow laws in the last century.

Organizers Nick Martinez, 21, and Haneen, 26, who requested her last name be omitted, reviewed PSL actions over the previous year, including rallies in and outside Texas, shutting down a San Antonio city council and fundraising for pro-Palestine billboards in San Antonio.

Haneen said her courage to become more active in the movement comes from having two cousins and an aunt presently living in Gaza. 

“I always knew that they lived there, but when the first week hit of the genocide, and then their family got killed, I was just like, it could happen to anybody,” Haneen said. “I’m trying to advocate for them all the time, trying to fundraise money through my artwork as well.”

Martinez said that although the presidential election has “momentarily diverted people’s attention away from Palestine,” attendees can avoid feeling “forced to vote for the lesser of two evils” by casting their vote for Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia, who are running as candidates for the PSL.

As the presentation came to a close, they led a chant with the attendees, who erupted in a passionate shout of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a controversial phrase commonly recited at pro-Palestinian rallied and protests.

PSL member Nick Martinez gives a presentation at the PSL community discussion in San Antonio, Texas. [Credit: Melanie Love Salazar]

One of the attendees asked organizers how those who agree with PSL can continue drawing attention to the movement after the election. 

“Saying this as one person that works as a social worker in a hospital, I talk about it everywhere I go,” another attendee responded. “I provide education as I go to the people in my surroundings as appropriate because you have to choose what hill you die on.”

The attendee also echoed a concern shared among many in the center. They didn’t feel comfortable voting for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris but worried that voting Green was a “vote to the Republican Party because it [the U.S] is really a two-party system.”

“During an election, there’s no better way to show the mass movement that we’re trying to provide for the Palestinian people than by showing up at the polls saying that we’re no longer going to put up with the two parties of genocide,” Martinez responded.

PSL organizer Chris Banks speaks at a community discussion in San Antonio, Texas. [Credit: Melanie Love Salazar]

“For us, it’s what we do the day after the election and for the next four years,” Banks said. “Our sights aren’t only on what’s happening one election cycle to the next. We, as a working class, have to have a bigger strategy…a more mature approach to long-term struggle.”